Flags
When the 4th Arkansas was organized in 1861, it received several new flags, all apparently based on the 1st National Flag of the Confederacy. The following is taken from the Hempstead county newspaper Washington Telegraph:
"At an early hour last Wednesday, the Battalion of volunteers under command of Lt. Col McNair took up the line of march for Missouri. It was a splendid sight. The different companies, under the command of their respective officers were marched into town from the camp and formed in front of the Jones Hotel, the Confederate Guards in front. This company was presented with a flag from the ladies of Hempstead County by the hands of Miss Emma Jett... "The Confederate Guards were then marched to the right exposing the Bright Star Rifles from LaFayette County. A beautiful flag was presented to this company by Miss Bettie Etter, through a friend...The flag bore upon its field the legend "Fidelis ad urnam."..... "During the ceremony, the Hempstead Hornets carried with them their own flag previously presented to them by the ladies of Missouri Township.
Miss Jett's speech ended "'Tis the flag of the South! aye, fling its fold to the kindred breeze, emblem of dread to tyrant hordes, of freedom of the seas! forever may its stars and stripes in cloudless glory wave: Red, White, and Blue--eternal types of nations free and brave" Miss Mollie Pagan presented a flag to the Hempstead Hornets and described it as "the flag of our southern confederacy", probably referring to a first national flag pattern. Colonel McNair was a Hempstead County resident and therefore probably selected a company flag from one of the Hempstead County units as the first 4th Arkansas flag which would be the flag carried by the regiment at the Battle of Pea Ridge and used until they crossed the Mississippi and were issued new colors.
By the time of the Battle of Murfreesboro, the 4th Arkansas had been issued McCown Style battle flag. This was a moderately rectangular banner with a predominantly blue field. The field was crossed with a white St. Andrew's Cross and the entire flag was bordered in white. From battle descriptions it is likely that every regiment of McNair's Arkansas Brigade carried a similar flag. Only one of these flags survived the war, that of the 25th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, which was then known as the 30th Arkansas. The flag of the 25th/30th Arkansas was captured after the color bearer's hand was shot off. It is now in the Old State House Museum in Little Rock. The 4th Arkansas would have carried a similar flag, either with their own markings, or with none at all. There are several post war illustrations of a 4th Arkansas Flag based on the St. Andrew's cross pattern of the Army of Tennessee, but no flag of the 4th Arkansas survived the war.
Read more about this topic: 4th Arkansas Infantry Regiment
Famous quotes containing the word flags:
“No doubt I shall go on writing, stumbling across tundras of unmeaning, planting words like bloody flags in my wake. Loose ends, things unrelated, shifts, nightmare journeys, cities arrived at and left, meetings, desertions, betrayals, all manner of unions, adulteries, triumphs, defeats ... these are the facts.”
—Alexander Trocchi (1925–1983)
“Still, it is dear defiance now to carry
Fair flags of you above my indignation,”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)
“Gentlemen, those confederate flags and our national standard are what has made this union great. In what other country could a man who fought against you be permitted to serve as judge over you, be permitted to run for reelection and bespeak your suffrage on Tuesday next at the poles.”
—Laurence Stallings (1894–1968)